Sleepy Mama

Last night was rough. Autumn decided to wake up at 1:30 am and was awake until about 5:30 am. She would sleep in small 15-20 min increments during this time but for the most part was awake. At about 4:30 she finally woke up her brother who crawled in bed with us. At one point Robert tried to sleep on her floor next to her. Autumn brought daddy her purple dog, covered him up with a blanket, and then went to her door and started to bang on it to let her out. She put daddy to bed and she wanted to stay up. I think this was about 3:30 or so.
Needless to say, us big folks are tired! We are not used to kiddos waking up in the middle of the night for no reason. I won't lie - I was tempted to try some benedryl last night. Good thing we didn't have any :)

Mason Turns 3!!

Today is Mason's 3rd Birthday!!!!

This morning my plan was to wake Mason up with the video camera and sing Happy Birthday. He must of remembered from last year because he woke up early and crawled in bed with me (yup, can't sing). Instead, he and I cuddled for a bit as I told him happy birthday. We eventually got off to school with the cupcakes in tow (Mason helped me make them last night) and I was going to take his picture this morning-but again Mason knew. Right before we got to school Mason announced "I have to go pee pee!" That takes priority of course, so we took care of business and mom left the birthday boy and his cupcakes at school.

I couldn't wait to see him this afternoon, so we went to pick him up a little early and headed to San Marcos for dinner and Academy. Dinner was normal, then we went over to Academy for Mason to pick out his present - a bicycle!

Mason was very excited to pick out a bike. He really didn't have many options, but thankfully the one we think works best is the one he wanted. He had to ride it in the store of course. We also got him a helmut - again the one he liked did fit and was on sale!

We got all this home, but before Mason would take a ride around the block we had to do birthday cake and ice cream. That was fun. I didn't mean for it to be a smash cake but it kinda ended up that way.

By this time baby girl was done, so dad and Mason took the first loop around the block. By the time they came in, Mason was tired. He is now in bed with his helmut tucked in right beside him :)

Happy Happy Birthday little man!!! We love you so much!



Mason at school - but the end of the day



At dinner

  

Riding the bike at the store. Gotta give it a test drive!



I think Autumn liked the cake too



Mason"I need to clean my hands"
Mom "Are you done?"
Mason "No"
Mom "Why don't you finish eating and then we will clean your hands?"
Mason "Clean my hands and then I will finish!"



Mason and his birthday present



Labor Day Festivities

As one trip to the beach wasn't enough, we went again! We decided at the last minute (like 2 days before) to go to Port Aransas for Labor day. Thankfully there were some rooms still on the beach at our favorite place so we booked and took off. My MIL joined us on this impromtu trip. We arrived about 8 Friday night and settled in. We spent all day Saturday and Sunday at the beach - we set up an umbrella and chairs and spent the days playing in the sand, water and walking the beach. There was a storm near New Orleans so the tides we really far in and the shallow water was a good 30 feet into the shore. That gave my kids so much room to run in about 1 feet of water. They loved every minute of it. We pretty much stayed at the beach and our room. The island was crazy busy for the holiday so we ate our meals in the room (gotta love condos with kitchens!) and relaxed. We headed home on Monday. The drive to and from was not bad at all. Of course the first drive (to Florida) was so long this went by super fast.

It was a very fun weekend!

 

Florida!! Days 8-10

On Friday, we did one last trip to the beach. Same as the other trips - kids loved it and crashed out. This time mama got buried in sand and we had a few jellyfish. For the record, I tried to bring a jellyfish home for Mason to take to school. I was vetoed down to a picture. Blah! Oh well honey - I tried!

Its the new look. Take notes people she's bringing sexy back!

 

Autumn and Mason helped bury me. Autumn really liked sitting on my lap AFTER I was covered in sand. Hmmm

 

Sleepy babies - this sleeping on the beach was a pretty common occurrence this week!

On Saturday, we left. We decided to break up the drive into two days on the way home. We made a stop at Coushatta Casino in Kinder, LA. This one was picked as we knew it had a day care. After we arrived and got the kids settled at the day care, we ate dinner as adults (oh my!) and explored the casino. Robert and I checked out the pool and hot tub and then later tried out the casino. We played and lost all of $5. Big spenders, I know. Somehow we got all 7 of us tucked in and asleep before 11pm.
The next morning, we finished our road trip home.

What a week! The kids loved the beach and the weather was great. Florida is definitely in our future again!

Florida!! Days 6 and 7

On Wednesday, the Buck's rented a boat for us all to cruse to crab island. Our kids love the boat, so the day was great. The Buck's have a tradition of chicken wings and crab island, so we enjoyed yummy wings and swam in the water. What's great is this place is a sandbar in the middle of the bay and only about 3 feet deep. Its a great place to park your boat and swim. Well, most of the time. We had a few jellyfish to watch out for, but the jellyfish were nice and we were able to do a little swimming. The kids loved playing in the water ~ and everyone was exhausted by the time we headed back.

 On Thursday we kinda all slept in so we decided to just go to the splash pad at Destin Commons and grab some lunch. The kids enjoyed the slash pad ~ I just took video of that and afterwards we went to Hard Rock to eat. My MIL and I collect hard rock shot glasses, so a stop was necessary. Later that evening the kids, Robert and I went to dinner so the Buck's could have some alone time. When we got back, a heated game of Wii bowling was occurring. Robert and I joined in and I am proud to say that we tied for second in one game. The rest we were dead last. Oh well :)

Florida!! Day 5

On Tuesday, we went to the Florida Gulfarium. We decided to take a day off from the beach and do something else for the day. The kids really seemed to enjoy it. You enter right into the viewing area for the dolphins and they come right up to the windows. It is also shaped as a big circle so the boys ran around in circles-literally!

We did try the first dolphin show, but Lee was too excited to sit for it and Mason likes to follow Lee, so we didn't stay. Instead we explored the park and checked out the birds, alligators and tortoise in the back. We then ventured back to the front and saw the sharks (a favorite for both) the penguins and sea lions. We tried the sea lion show but that didn't work out. After that we stopped trying shows :)

We spent a few hours here, and then finished out the day back at the house.



Mason at the entrance. Finding Nemo is in the background.



Autumn tried so hard to do this by herself-she had a little help from Auntie Kat.





This was cool. The boys got to feed stingrays! Mason tried but I think Lee was more interested. I even think Lee held one for the stingray to get. Pretty cool.



Mason didn't mind posing for mom in the clam.



Autumn did mind.....

Florida!! Day 4

On Monday, we headed back to the beach. This time Phillip was able to join the party. The Buck's could not come, so the four of us ventured out with the kids. Lee fell asleep on the way to the beach, and took about a 2 hour nap on the blanket. Autumn played hard, and them she herself was tired and decided to join Lee. Mason played hard all afternoon and had fun in the water and building sand castles. Autumn did wake back up and wanted back in the water. Autumn was not scared of the water at all! A big wave would knock her over and she would get up and head back into the ocean. If we waded out with her, she would try to swim on her own. Mason didn''t even make it to the car, he passed out on Robert.



Plum worn out!



Beach!

 

Sullivan Family

Later that night we had dinner again with the Buck's and crashed out.

Giving Mane a big hug!



Florida!! Days 1-3

We finally went on a vacation! We went to Destin/Niceville for a weeks worth of sun and fun. We packed up the van and made the 12+ hour drive to Florida. The Houlton's joined us on this road trip. It was decided we would drive overnight on Friday so the kids could sleep on the way there. Yeah, that didn't work out 100%. The kids were up for chunks of it but thankfully pretty calm. Robert, Kat and I all took a shift and I weazeled my way into the first shift. So basically I drove us out of Texas. That's 5 hours folks. Kat got us through Louisiana and into Mississippi. That's another 4 hours. Robert finished us out driving through Mississippi, Alabam aand Florida. He drove in 3 states in 3 hours time. He likes to brag he drove in 3 states.  Ha! We arrived in Florida about 6:30 am Saturday morning.

We headed to the beach on Saturday with the Buck's (Kat's parents) and spent a few hours at the water. My kids loved every bit of it!



The Sullivan Family

 

 After the beach we went back to the Buck's house where mama Buck cooked dinner for us and we rested. We did go back to the beach on Sunday and spent another day in the sun. Sunday afternoon we hung out at the house and Sunday night Phillip arrived to join the fun.

Autumn had a fun time with Mane :)

Autumn really enjoyed these big green couches and could not get enough of them. Thankfully she had a willing participant.